CALGARY – You'll be forgiven if you think you've seen this movie before.

A year ago, the Calgary Dinos and Alberta Golden Bears closed out the Canada West regular season at Foote Field battling gale-force winds in Edmonton. The conditions were so bad, Calgary kicker Aaron Ifield's chip shot 25-yard field goal “hit a sheet of Plexiglas,” according to play-by-play man Dave Rowe, as it was set to split the uprights and hit the official standing under the right goal post in the foot. Shaw TV was forced to abandon its broadcast after the first quarter, and the 20-9 final score in favour of the Golden Bears was almost secondary, given that the game had no impact on the final standings.

Fast forward 371 days, and the Dinos head back to Edmonton for Saturday's season wrap-up against the Golden Bears and, although the weather is forecast to be very different, the result could end up having no bearing on the final standings pending other games in the conference.

GAME NOTES (.pdf)

The key game both Calgary and Alberta will keep an eye on will be the Regina-Saskatchewan contest on Friday night at Mosaic Stadium in Regina. If the Huskies come out on top, they will claim first place and home-field advantage throughout the playoffs regardless of the Calgary-Alberta score because they hold the tiebreaker over the Dinos thanks to their Week 1 overtime victory. A Saskatchewan win would also guarantee a playoff spot for Alberta, finalizing the Canada West playoff picture.

However, should the Rams upset their provincial foes Friday night, Saturday's game takes on a whole new level of significance with both the Dinos and Bears having something to gain with a victory. In that scenario, a Calgary win would give the Dinos first place alone at 7-1 and home field advantage while the Bears would be playing for their playoff lives, needing a win to extend their season.

Calgary head coach Blake Nill has the task of getting his team ready to play despite the circumstance after the Dinos displayed a noticeable lack of intensity heading into Foote Field a year ago.

“You always want to have momentum heading into the playoffs,” said Nill, “and last year we didn't have that. We need to bring the intensity and focus we've had most of the season into this game on Saturday afternoon.”

The Dinos and Bears always seem to get involved in tight games, and even the initial meeting this season was surprisingly close after a pair of late Alberta touchdowns got them within three points before bowing out 34-31. The familiar rivals meet for the 81st time in Canada West competition Saturday afternoon, and here is a look at the two sides:

No. 2 Calgary Dinos (6-1)
Last week: won 47-29 vs. Regina
Next week: Canada West Semi-final, opponent TBD

After a record-setting season offensively, the Calgary Dinos moved up to No. 2 in the CIS Top 10 this week, the highest ranking for the program since the last five weeks of the 1995 season when they won their fourth Vanier Cup title.

The Dinos broke the 700-yard barrier in total offence last weekend when they hosted the Regina Rams at McMahon Stadium, with Erik Glavic posting the third-best single game passing total in school history with 470 yards. Slotback Anthony Parker was the Canada West offensive player of the week after catching an 85-yard touchdown pass from Glavic on the first play of the game and leading the Dinos in both receiving and rushing with more than 200 yards from scrimmage.

The Rams did a solid job limiting Matt Walter's yardage to just 57 on the day, but the 2008 conference MVP did scamper for three touchdowns. Walter has virtually wrapped up his second straight Canada West rushing title and needs just 66 more to break the 1,000-yard barrier for the first time in his career.

With Glavic the top passer, Walter the top rusher, and Parker the top receiver in Canada West, the Dinos will be looking for more of the same offensively against the Golden Bears. The team has already broken the school's single-season total offence record by more than 100 yards with one game to play and is four touchdowns away from matching the 1995 team record of 39.

Defensively, however, Calgary will look to rebound from the Regina game where they gave up 384 yards through the air, including a pair of 45-plus yard gains. The front seven has done a spectacular job against the run all season long, holding opponents to just one 100-yard rushing game on the season and holding the Rams to just 65 last week, but Calgary has also allowed more than 2,000 passing yards on the year, the highest total in Canada West.

Linebackers Chase Moore and Andrea Bonaventura are the team's tackle leaders, sitting eighth and 10th in the conference with 36 and 35.5, respectively, on the season.

Having clinched at least one home playoff date, the Dinos will host a conference semi-final on Saturday, Nov. 7 at McMahon Stadium, with kickoff at 1 p.m. They will face either the Manitoba Bisons or the Regina Rams, pending the outcome of this weekend's games.

Alberta Golden Bears (3-4)
Last week: lost 39-3 @ Saskatchewan
Next week: TBD

It has been an up-and-down season for Alberta as the Bears look to head back to the post-season for the first time in three years.

The evergreen and gold opened the season 0-2 by a combined four points after collapsing in the second half at home to UBC – the Thunderbirds' only on-field win of the season – and then falling short with the aforementioned late comeback at McMahon Stadium. The Bears then reeled off two impressive wins, defeating Simon Fraser on the road and then Saskatchewan at home by a surprisingly lopsided 27-7 score. A road loss to Manitoba followed, then a 33-22 win over Regina at home that gave Alberta a badly-needed tiebreaker.

This weekend they face the Dinos after getting blown out 39-3 by the Huskies in Saskatoon last Friday night The Bears gave up 27 points in the second quarter, and starting quarterback Quade Armstrong threw up six interceptions to the Saskatchewan defence. Armstrong was largely ineffective against Calgary in the teams' first meeting back in September, passing for just 167 yards on 15 completions, and it was former Dino Julian Marchand that made a game of it late with his 7-for-10, 156-yard passing performance that resulted in two touchdowns in the final three minutes of the fourth quarter.

Running back Tendayi Jozzy missed the first Calgary game but has since posted some decent numbers and sits third in rush yards per game in Canada West. Laine Rogers and Mike Wasylyniuk are the Bears' leading receivers, with both averaging near 57 yards per game. Defensively, linebackers Jean-Marc Jones and Dan Bass are both in the top four in Canada West in total tackles, while Craig Gerbrandt is the conference's sacks leader with nine heading into the final weekend. Two of those came at McMahon Stadium against Glavic and the Dinos.

Punter Hugh O'Neill has once again outclassed his competition, averaging 42.5 yards per kick, 3.5 yards better than his closest rival, the Dinos' Aaron Ifield.

The Bears need either a win and a Manitoba win or a Regina loss to qualify for the post-season, and regardless of the final standings, Alberta will travel to Saskatoon to face the Huskies in the semi-final if they make the playoffs.

-UC-